


Impatience

by ChelBlue



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Roomates, passive agression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 17:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19398913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChelBlue/pseuds/ChelBlue
Summary: Alex isn't in the mood to deal with the slightest inconvenience today, not that Toby knew that.





	Impatience

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a dialogue scene assignment at school! I really liked it, so I'm posting it! I hope you enjoy!

The apartment building seemed bustling that morning, and cars filled the parking lot to the brim. Outside some men were smoking and laughing loudly, and on one of the balconies stood a woman chatting loudly with someone on the phone. The men were blocking the doorway, and Alex had to shove past them, bag held to his chest while they carelessly puffed their sickly smoke into his face. He resisted the urge to suck in a sharp breath, pushing open and promptly closing the door fell shut, soft and unsatisfying.

It seemed that the building was busy not just outside but in as well, loud noise coming from a number of the rooms he had to pass on his way to his own apartment. The people in the hallways were no more considerate than those men by the door, blocking more hallway than necessary. Alex passed by (quiet, polite, mindful of the others, unlike them). His door couldn’t come soon enough. Why did he have to live so high up? 

Finally his apartment was before him, and he allowed the tension to melt out of his shoulders and his bag to droop back down to his side. He sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day and carefully opened the door only to be greeted by a room filled with papers, scattered all across the table, the counter, and some were even strewn on the floor. He inhaled. Right. No respite even at home. 

Alex set down his bag on the counter, pushing aside the papers. He ran his hand through his hair, gently gliding the strands back into place. It’s just a few papers. Just a little bit of a mess. Nothing to fuss about, right? It would take only minutes to tidy. Just, get it done and move on.

So, he began to gather up the papers, crumpling them slightly as he went. He didn’t care much for the condition of the pages, though he knew he should. They weren’t his, after all. There was far more papers than he could reason his roommate needing. What was he even majoring in anyway? Probably nothing that would require so much paper. He was probably the type to accidentally print too many copies of his homework. That’s probably what he had done, leaving the extras scattered across their small shared apartment. 

Alex never left his stuff in the common room, did he? No, he thought not. But Toby, on the other hand, seemed to have been raised without concern for others, none at all. He could remember just last week when Toby had left half the contents of his bag on the couch and coffee table for people to sit on. Not a single care in the world. He took up as much space as he wanted, all of the time. Who did he think he was?

It was then Toby decided to come scuttling into the small living room.

“Oh, you’re here earlier than I thought,” He greeted Alex, walking quickly to the coffee maker past him. Alex’s grip on the papers tightened as he sucked in a breath. 

“How are you?” he said, his voice only somewhat strained. He didn’t sound downright aggressive, which was good enough for him. Toby watched the steady stream of coffee slowly pour out into his chipped mug. 

“I’m alright. And you?” He didn’t even look up from the machine.

“Fine, I suppose.” He paused. “I picked up the papers you left lying around. What are they for?”

“A project.” Toby’s mug was full. He took a large gulp of coffee the moment the machine stopped spitting it out.

“I assume it required leaving them scattered about.” Alex said. That got Toby to look at him. He sighed. 

“I didn’t think you’d get home so soon.” He explained. He took another sip of his drink. 

“Sure.” Alex replied. He set the crinkled papers down on the counter and slid them closer to Toby’s arm, rested on the counter. “Here.” 

“Thanks.” A sip. 

“And please don’t leave your stuff lying around everywhere again.” 

“I rarely do.”

“You did it last week.” Alex accused. Toby sighed again and drank the rest of his coffee, putting it under the machine again. 

“I’m allowed to make a mess sometimes. I pay half the rent. Besides, I was going to clean it up.” 

“Allowed to?” Alex scoffed. “It’s our apartment. The space is shared. You need to look after the space like you know that it is.” 

“I was going to.” Toby downed some coffee like it was a shot and leaned further on the counter. “What’s your problem, Alex?”

“You leaving you stuff around all the time.” Alex said. “It’s annoying.” 

“Fine. Won’t happen again.”

Toby left the kitchen, the papers shoved under his arm. Alex sat there a moment. It was a little much, but Toby deserved to be told off. Always so careless, so full of himself. He picked up his bag and left the room.


End file.
